July 20, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1424

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PESHAWAR, July 19: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has said the Shimla Accord provides a window of opportunity to Pakistan and India to resolve their bilateral issues through negotiations.

Talking to newsmen here at the Peshawar press club on Saturday provincial General-Secretary PPP Najmuddin Khan said that the rulers had now realized that the Shimla Accord was the only way to resolve issues with India.

Mr Khan gave credit to the first PPP government, headed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for signing the accord.

Today, he said, the rulers and opposition were talking about the accord as a useful instrument for the restoration of peace in the tension-plagued region.

He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman during his trip to India had urged both India and Pakistan to initiate negotiations on Kashmir in the light of the Simla Accord.

Referring to the enforcement of the Shariat in the NWFP he said it was only an election slogan of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) that wanted to divert the attention of the masses from the real issues.

Mr Khan said the government had presented a projected annual development programme (ADP), which could not be carried out with a small amount provided by the federal government. The present budget was mere a farce, he added.

The PPP Parliamentarian group, he said, was subordinate to the party. It had moved a resolution, in consultation with the party, seeking an early return of PPP chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto from abroad, Mr Khan added.

The PPP, he said, wanted to bring the Legal Framework Order (LFO) into parliament for an early decision on it. It was parliament’s prerogative to decide on the issue, he added.

He said the present political setup had been proving unworkable as it had failed to solve the social, economic and political crisis in the country.